Donegal: A Scenic Escape in Ireland's North

County Donegal, Ireland (Teelin): Rusty Mackerel Stay, Slieve League Views, Silver Strand & Whisky Tasting | Episode 30

Brittany and Josh celebrate the 30th episode of the We Should Move Here Travels podcast, noting listeners from 19 countries and over 140 cities, then recap their trip to County Donegal, based in Teelin. They describe the long drive from County Wicklow with stops for coffee in Shankill and lunch in Donegal, plus a breathalyzer checkpoint and a dramatic final stretch of cliffside driving in the dark. Their home base, the Rusty Mackerel, is highlighted for its authentic pub atmosphere, music, fires, and standout meals. They share visits to Brew and Through coffee truck, the Roseanne sweater shop, Silver Strand beach, Slieve League (too windy to hike), the Glencolmcille Tower Loop hike, a Croithli Distillery whisky tour, and a final dinner at Anderson Boathouse in Killybegs, ending with travel tips and whether they’d live there.

00:00 Welcome and Milestone

01:20 Global Listener Shoutout

03:43 Donegal Road Trip Begins

04:21 Coffee Stops and Harbor Lunch

05:39 Checkpoint and Sunset Views

06:46 Cliffside Night Drive

08:35 Staying at Rusty Mackerel

10:55 Pub Food Highlights

13:11 Coffee Truck and Flat Whites

14:41 Handmade Sweater Shop

15:47 Silver Strand Beach Hike

16:28 Windy Ocean Beach

16:53 Slieve League Cliffs

17:49 Glencolmcille Tower Loop

19:54 Sheep Donkeys Views

22:06 Croithli Distillery Tour

25:17 Final Dinner Killybegs

26:36 Donegal Favorites

28:27 Would You Live Here

31:06 Travel Tips Donegal

33:25 Next Stops Wrap Up

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh,

brit 0:17

and we are your hosts. Literally, every time you giggle

josh 0:24

it is just so fun. And now that the fact that we are recording our 30th episode,

brit 0:31

it's wild to believe that there are 30 episodes of this out there.

josh 0:35

I know, I know.

brit 0:37

That's so wild to me.

josh 0:38

Yeah, it's so cool though. I'm enjoying it immensely.

brit 0:43

Yeah, me too. Yeah, I mean, even if we've talked about doing this for a year. Mm-hmm. Even if the year is up and we're like, we need to go back to work, we need to, figure out something for finances and the podcast doesn't make any money. I still think we do this.

josh 1:00

Oh, for sure. It would. It is now. And it would continue to be a passion project for me, and I think for us

brit 1:07

for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. There might be less episodes that we do'cause time, you know?

josh 1:12

Right.

brit 1:12

But I mean, I still consider doing this even if we were working a lot, so.

josh 1:19

Absolutely.

brit 1:20

Yeah.

josh 1:20

I mean, we have people all over the world that listen to us, and because we're recording our 30th episode, I thought I would read off all the countries that have tuned in for episodes.

brit 1:31

Oh my gosh. I don't even think I've heard this in maybe two months.

josh 1:35

Yeah.

brit 1:35

So I'm excited to hear all of the countries.

josh 1:38

So there are 19 total countries. Oh

brit 1:41

my God.

josh 1:41

Who have tuned into episodes. So the United States, of course. And then the rest of'em are the United Kingdom, Finland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Lithuania, France, Brazil, Singapore, Belgium, Spain. Israel, Mexico, Russia, the Dominican Republic and Sweden.

brit 2:05

Wow.

josh 2:06

Mm-hmm. Yes. They have all tuned in to at least one episode and downloaded it and listened to it to a sufficient amount that gets counted towards our stats.

brit 2:19

That is so wild.

josh 2:21

Yeah. So

brit 2:22

that is so many countries.

josh 2:24

It is. Of course there are people all over the world who just want to travel and listening to us for travel, and then they're playing people all the world that are looking to move somewhere else as well, so,

brit 2:36

yeah. Yeah, for sure. Wow.

josh 2:40

Mm-hmm.

brit 2:41

Oh my gosh.

josh 2:42

Yeah, it's really cool. 19 total countries over 140 total cities have tuned in,

brit 2:50

Whoa. For the first six months of this project. That is a success. I think we can mark that as a success in our book. And it's hard to believe with all of that engagement, that this is not going to be more successful.

josh 3:07

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:08

I'm just putting that out there into the universe and it'll be what it'll be. But I'm manifesting,

josh 3:16

I'm, I'm right there with you and I totally agree.

brit 3:18

Well, happy 30th episode to you.

josh 3:20

Happy 30th episode to you.

brit 3:22

That's so exciting. I know a couple episodes ago I had said that we should chug a Guinness mm-hmm. For our 30th episode. I will have to say that I don't wanna do that, so we're not gonna do that.

josh 3:34

We'll, we'll take a sip of our coffees. How

brit 3:36

about, yeah, we're doing this in the morning. We is kind of special'cause we get to Have coffee and do the pod.

josh 3:43

So for our 30th episode, we are talking about county Donegal and the city that we stayed in was Teelin. Now we did have to make the long drive from Laragh in county Wicklow to Donegal.

brit 3:58

Yeah. What was it like four or five hours?

josh 4:01

I think our moving time on Google was over five hours.

brit 4:04

Yeah.

josh 4:05

I'm sure it's a shorter drive, but because it was the first long trek for us across Ireland, from southeast to northwest.

brit 4:15

Yeah.

josh 4:16

I was taking it slow.

brit 4:18

Yeah. Oh, for sure. And. We had made a couple of different stops along the way as well. Mm-hmm. Like we stopped in Shankill for coffee and we stopped at Bart's coffee, which is the cutest little coffee stop. It's just like a window on the sidewalk. Mm-hmm. outside of what, what looks to be appears to be a restaurant. Yeah. it was so good. It was one of the best coffees we had in Ireland. Mm-hmm. So definitely recommend stopping there if you're in Shankill. and then we stopped in Donegal for lunch at the harbor and had an amazing lunch. the salmon that we got, it was an herb crested salmon with white wine sauce and mashed potatoes. Ugh. It was so good. we also got the pasta. Mm-hmm. I think it was called the harbor pasta, and it had a tomato sauce and Parmesan crusted chicken. This food was insane. It was so good. I loved it. Every bite was so delicious. this one had the best reviews. And I think I also saw it on social media when I was researching or looking it up. Oh, okay. So yeah. And then we got the brownie and ice cream. We got brownies a lot on this trip. And this, I think was the best one. So good.

josh 5:37

This was very good. Yeah. I also have to mention on this drive, we did end up going through a breathalyzer checkpoint.

brit 5:45

Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh my God. I was freaked out.

josh 5:51

I know we were pulling up and two police cars sitting there. I thought for sure we had made a wrong turn and we're in North Ireland. I was like, oh, we are not registered to go to North Ireland. He's like, oh no, just give him breathalyzer. And that was just a fun experience. They gave me the little breathalyzer test tube. He's like, here's a souvenir from your trip. So,

brit 6:12

yeah, I mean, he was so nice. The guy who did it. Yeah.

josh 6:14

So nice. but yeah, I mean, it was a fun drive. Great lunch. I didn't realize that you had looked that up. I thought it was just on a, on a whim, like, oh, let's go here.

brit 6:23

No, I definitely looked into it. Yeah. It would've been cooler if it was on a whim, but no, I looked into it.

josh 6:31

and we got to see the sunset.

brit 6:32

We did

josh 6:33

right there.

brit 6:34

That was the most beautiful sunset.

josh 6:37

Yeah.

brit 6:37

I think the most beautiful sunset we've ever seen. Oh, it was so gorgeous.

josh 6:42

Stunning. And then from there we drove the rest of the way to Teelin.

brit 6:46

Yeah. And we did have to drive, well I say we, you did have to drive. Um,

josh 6:52

it's a team sport. We had to drive,

brit 6:55

but you had to drive in the dark for the first time. Going into Teelin. it wasn't too much in the dark. It was maybe like the last 20 minutes of our drive,

josh 7:06

but those last 20 minutes were rough.

brit 7:09

It was kind of scary not knowing what is on the edge of the road.

josh 7:14

Mm-hmm.

brit 7:15

But probably it's a cliff, you know?

josh 7:18

And it was, we didn't know it at the time because it was too dark to even see

brit 7:22

Yeah.

josh 7:22

What was past the edge of the road. But it was a cliff.

brit 7:27

It was for sure a cliff. Yeah.

josh 7:28

Yeah.

brit 7:29

Like the whole, the whole time, the whole 20 minutes of the dark drive was a cliff

josh 7:34

and they were such sharp, windy turns.

brit 7:38

Yeah.

josh 7:39

Because it was, it was on the cliff. It was on the edge. So it was, going along with the rock edge.

brit 7:43

Yeah, I mean, we survived. You are an incredible driver, so I give you props so much, so many props. I don't know. Then I could have done it. I think I would've had a panic attack and not survived that. So thank you for driving.

josh 7:59

Of course. But again, it's a team sport. If I was a solo traveler driving by myself, that's, that'd be crazy. Even though we had satellite navigation on the car and it was easy enough to quickly look over. You don't wanna do that when you're driving in Ireland. You don't wanna take your eyes off the road for a second.'cause there's constantly sheep popping out. Zika deer, other cars. Yeah, no, no, thank you. And

brit 8:27

these very small roads.

josh 8:28

Yeah.

brit 8:29

Mm-hmm.

josh 8:29

The, the solo travelers who drive Brave Souls, I don't know if I could do it.

brit 8:35

Yeah.

josh 8:35

Mm-hmm. But yeah, so that 20 minute drive got to Teelin and we were staying at the Rusty Mackerel.

brit 8:42

The Rusty Mackeral was incredibly comfortable and it was also an Irish pub with like the most authentically Irish atmosphere that you can imagine from an Irish pub. Yeah. It was so cool to be in this, traditional Irish pub and then also be staying there. Mm-hmm. So every night we would go back and we ate mainly there every single day. Mm-hmm. so it was so cool to go back and be able to like, have a couple drinks after a long hike or something, and then go straight to bed, walk to your room and go straight to bed. It was just so cool.

josh 9:24

Yeah. Like you said, great atmosphere. They had like two or three lit fires and there are Pete fires in there that we got to cozy up next to on the cold nights and have an Irish coffee, have a Guinness, some local beers, and then couple nights there was, traditional music sessions going on Bartenders were super nice. All the workers were really nice.

brit 9:47

Yeah, it was really an amazing vibe. I would stay here over and over and over again if I could.

josh 9:54

Mm-hmm. It, it's definitely a popular place. I have seen it. Talked about on our social medias when we stayed there, people commented, stayed there, loved it. Just saw one this morning. I was responding to someone's comment of they were just there after us and they loved it as well, so.

brit 10:13

Mm-hmm.

josh 10:13

Popular place, if you're going to county Donegal if you're going to Teelin great. Base camp.

brit 10:19

It really is. Yeah. Yeah. And then if you have a car, you can just, drive around, find the spots that you wanna go to. Mm-hmm. And they're all somewhat close. Mm. All of the, like hiking trails and all of that that we went to, it was somewhat close.

josh 10:35

Yeah. Yeah. We weren't driving all that far. I mean, you can obviously drive further for other things, which we did.

brit 10:43

Yeah.

josh 10:43

But like the Slieve League, one of the most popular things about County Donegal and up there near Teelin was what, five, 10 minutes away?

brit 10:52

Yeah. Very, very close.

josh 10:54

Mm-hmm.

brit 10:55

And also the rusty mackerel had amazing food.

josh 10:59

Oh, delicious food.

brit 11:01

I was shocked at the quality of food in this little Irish pub. Mm-hmm. it was so good. some of the highlights would be the vegetarian breakfast, the smoked salmon and eggs, which you really like smoked salmon. I'm not a huge fan, so I didn't try that. But you said it was really good. It was really good.

josh 11:21

Smoked salmon. Yep.

brit 11:22

Uh, the Guinness Beef Stew. Oh my God. This Guinness beef stew paired with a Guinness Insane combo. So good.

josh 11:33

Done.

brit 11:34

Yeah. Especially after a long hiking day. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Ugh.

josh 11:39

It was a vibe.

brit 11:40

Yeah. It was also the chicken sandwich. We had that same night.

josh 11:44

Oh.

brit 11:45

That chicken sandwich was fried to perfection.

josh 11:48

Mm-hmm.

brit 11:49

It was so like tender and juicy and just so delicious. And the seasoning in the breading of the chicken was just insane. Yeah. It was so good. the fish and chips, I really haven't met a fish and chips that I don't like, so there's that. But I mean, it was really good.

josh 12:09

Good. Classic.

brit 12:09

You did like the fish and chips here, didn't you?

josh 12:12

I did. I did. And I'm, I'm more of a kind of like, ah, fish and chips can hit or miss. This was a good fish and chips.

brit 12:18

Yeah.

josh 12:18

Mm-hmm.

brit 12:18

Yeah. the duck breast in maple syrup glaze, oh my God. This one was like, it was like a sweet duck. Mm-hmm. If you can imagine that, very sweet glaze and almost caramelized on the duck.

josh 12:37

Yeah. Yeah.

brit 12:38

The duck breast, Very good. Um, the full Irish breakfast

josh 12:42

of course.

brit 12:44

And the pancakes.

josh 12:45

Yeah,

brit 12:46

the pancakes were my favorite breakfast. I think

josh 12:49

we're gonna continue mentioning pancakes throughout the review'cause the pancakes on this trip were delicious.

brit 12:56

They were so good. And I'm a pancake girl. I love a good pancake.

josh 13:00

You and me are both on the same page with like breakfast usually like french toast pancakes, like little kind of sweetness little carbie to start your day. Love it.

brit 13:10

Yeah. so some of our ventures outside of the Rusty Mackerel, we went for coffee in this cute little coffee truck.

josh 13:21

not mini bus, but like minivan.

brit 13:24

Yeah. We'll put a picture in here if you're watching on YouTube, but otherwise you can find it on our website. this was, brew and through. Mm-hmm. And it had really good coffee.

josh 13:34

Delicious coffee.

brit 13:36

I was actually quite surprised by how delicious the coffee was here in Ireland. It was

josh 13:43

great. It was. Mm-hmm.

brit 13:44

And I did start listening to people in the comments, so if you felt rage baited by my comment about the lattes in New Zealand being weak, I'm so sorry. That was not rage bait. That is my own ignorance coming through about coffee because I was strictly a latte girly, and I realized that at home I have been drinking flat whites.

josh 14:10

Mm-hmm.

brit 14:10

So now I've been ordering flat whites. Thank you all for the comments. You can stop. But thank you. I'm so sorry that I rage baited you anyways.

josh 14:22

I mean, you have definitely evolved into flat whites.

brit 14:25

Yeah.

josh 14:25

Your, your taste has definitely changed from a latte to flat whites.

brit 14:30

Yeah. I mean, I guess I didn't know enough about coffee to know that that's what I was doing. Mm-hmm. But yeah. So anyways, thank you all for educating me. I also wanna mention the sweater shop. Mm-hmm. Where we got a, handmade wool sweater mm-hmm. That actually fits both of us, and that looks good on both of us and we love it. Mm-hmm. the sweater shop's name is Roseanne, R-O-S-S-A-N. Really incredible store. The woman who helped us out there was so nice. Oh my God. I loved her. She was so sweet. really great quality stuff.

josh 15:15

Oh, amazing. Hand knit. She was working on stuff while we were there. It's been owned and run by her family for generations. They've survived out in, you know, the edge of the peninsula of Donegal go up there. And it was a great place for us to stop after we did one of our hikes.

brit 15:34

Yeah. I think they also do shipping. I did see that. They ship.

josh 15:37

Yep.

brit 15:38

So if you want a good quality wool sweater that's handmade in Ireland, check'em out.

josh 15:43

Yeah. We saw them on our way back. Well, we actually saw it on the way to Silver Strand, one of the hikes we did.

brit 15:51

Silver Strand was, so beautiful.

josh 15:54

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:55

It was like a beach where you walk down like six or seven flights of stairs.

josh 16:03

Pretty tall. Yeah.

brit 16:04

Yeah. Lots of stairs. and then you're down at the beach and you're surrounded by cliffs ocean sheep, and it's just the most amazing feeling. You're like, holy shit. Yeah. I'm in Ireland.

josh 16:19

Mm-hmm.

brit 16:20

It's like what you might envision Ireland to look like, like it's so gorgeous.

josh 16:27

Yeah, absolutely stunning. You get right up to the ocean. Definitely don't want to go swimming down there. I don't think

brit 16:35

those waves were intense.

josh 16:37

No. and pretty hefty rocks so you could get yourself in trouble. But like you said, beautiful, stunning, lots of locals down there, with dogs. So it's a cute beach.

brit 16:47

Yeah. We met some dogs.

josh 16:48

Yeah.

brit 16:49

Really loved it. It was so windy this day. but then the same day we went over to the Slieve league.

josh 16:57

Mm-hmm.

brit 16:57

And it was way too windy to hike up these cliffs.

josh 17:02

Yeah.

brit 17:02

We were not about that. And also I had seen some pictures of this hike and I was like, Nope, not for me. I am not hiking while there's a cliff literally right next to me and one wrong step and I'm done. I did not feel like that today.

josh 17:22

Plus it was like severe wind warnings, so it was like, take caution. There's so much wind.

brit 17:29

Yeah. People were hiking it.

josh 17:32

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just, just wasn't for us. We still got to see. It was beautiful. Was stunning. Glad we were there.

brit 17:39

It was absolutely stunning. I wish I would've gotten, captured better photos of it, but it was just so cloudy and dark.

josh 17:49

Mm-hmm. And then the next day we did our kinda like half day longer hike for this section of our trip. We did the, oh boy, I don't know how to pronounce it

brit 18:04

well, Glen Colum Seal. Glen Colum Seal Tower Loop,

josh 18:11

yeah.

brit 18:11

It's G-L-E-N-C-O-L-U-M-C-I-L-L-E. Tower. Loop.

josh 18:18

Again, another very windy day, but. This hike was so fun.

brit 18:23

It was so fun. we had a blast kind of playing in the wind.

josh 18:27

Mm-hmm.

brit 18:28

Which I haven't done in a long time. And it kind of brought out our inner child a little bit because like, we walked up to the tower and you stepped out from behind the tower and all of a sudden there was so much wind on you and it just looked like you were about to float away.

josh 18:50

I swear if I would've taken off the backpack and jumped in the air, I, I could have floated away.

brit 18:57

Oh my gosh. Which is scary'cause there was a cliff right there.

josh 19:01

There was, we didn't get anywhere near the edge of the cliff. No.'cause of how windy it was. it was whipping pretty good. But it was such a good hike.'cause we were first down in the valley where it was calm, walked through small town, some like little farms. Walked up the switchbacks.

brit 19:19

Yeah.

josh 19:19

On the way there, there was a fantastic viewpoint with a bench.

brit 19:24

Yeah. Oh, I'll always remember sitting on that bench with you. honestly, I feel like I could have sat there with you forever. It was so gorgeous. It was just such a beautiful moment, and I feel like on this hike specifically, we connected really well. Mm-hmm. Like I look back at this hike and I'm like, I felt so connected to you. Mm-hmm. In that moment. Yeah. I don't know if you feel similarly, but No, that's how I look back on it.

josh 19:52

Yeah. Same. Absolutely. So after the bench, we continued the hike up to the tower. We had to walk through a whole herd of sheep.

brit 20:02

Yeah. We made a lot of sheep friends here. Lots of sheep friends.

josh 20:07

I don't know if they were our friends, but we walked through a lot of sheep. They were

brit 20:11

my friends, whatever. yeah, it was really fun. And we kind of had to dodge some sheep at times, like, oh, I don't wanna get too close to you. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna walk around

josh 20:26

and they were totally fine.

brit 20:27

Yeah.

josh 20:28

No issues.

brit 20:29

At the top of like the peak.

josh 20:33

Mm-hmm.

brit 20:34

It was so beautiful too. Mm-hmm. I. Remember looking out at the water and we're at like the highest point and it was just so stunning.

josh 20:44

Yeah.

brit 20:44

It felt so good too.

josh 20:46

It did. it, it

brit 20:47

was a little cold.

josh 20:48

It was a little cool. Not too bad though. And the hike wasn't along like any cliff edges minus when we walked out to the tower point, and then you could decide how far you wanted to go. So it was a very safe hike for, a windy day.

brit 21:05

Yeah. Agreed. then on the way down, we had met some donkeys.

josh 21:12

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:13

Oh my gosh. These donkeys were so sweet.

josh 21:19

They wanted to be pet, it seemed like, or at least talked to us.'cause they stood right up by the, the gate and just waited for us to take pictures and stuff. They were cute.

brit 21:29

They were so cute.

josh 21:30

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:31

Oh my gosh. I want a donkey,

josh 21:35

but a, an absolutely fantastic hike.

brit 21:38

It was, it was beautiful.

josh 21:40

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I, I would say maybe not quite as picturesque as the, upper lower. Lake.

brit 21:49

Yeah.

josh 21:50

In our previous episode that we talked about.

brit 21:52

I agree. I think that the one spot at the bench

josh 21:56

mm-hmm.

brit 21:56

Was maybe as PI picturesque, but the hike as a whole.

josh 22:00

Mm-hmm.

brit 22:00

I don't think so. I think you're right.

josh 22:02

Yeah. Yeah. It was still beautiful. Would recommend.

brit 22:04

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Agreed. we also went to the Croithli Distillery mm-hmm. And tasted whiskey. Mm-hmm. So we actually learned that whiskey in Ireland is distinguished from Scottish whiskey by removing the e in the spelling. Yeah. So Irish whisky does not have an E in whiskey, and Scottish Whiskey has an e mm-hmm. In whiskey. Mm-hmm.

josh 22:33

Yeah.

brit 22:34

So interesting.

josh 22:35

Yeah. We learned that and we then we learned so much about that distillery. That was really cool. Like the history of the building.

brit 22:43

Yeah. It used to be a rug company and then it was the Croithli dolls. if you know what the Croithli dolls are, they did have some dolls around.

josh 22:55

Mm-hmm.

brit 22:56

From when it was the factory.

josh 22:57

Yeah.

brit 22:58

But they were creepy.

josh 23:00

Yeah. They were definitely a little creepy. but interesting history of the building as well as the rug factory, like a very. Prominent Rug Factory, they said that rugs were sold and are currently in, uh, Taj Mahal. Yeah. As well as the White House. And I mean, the distillery tour as a whole was really fun. It was a drive, quite a ways north of where we were. so I didn't really get to do too much of the tasting just because definitely not drinking and driving.

brit 23:35

Yeah. So I did a lot of the tasting and I was feeling pretty good. the whiskey was amazing. Our tour guide was so nice and sweet and he took us around the entire distillery, kind of explained what the process was, had us taste along the way. Mm-hmm. So we actually got to taste whiskey before it had sat in a barrel.

josh 24:01

Yeah.

brit 24:02

Wouldn't recommend. It's not great, but

josh 24:05

just a super high concentration.

brit 24:08

Yeah. it was kind of cool to be able to do that and then, see like how it's made and how the Croithli distillery really distinguishes itself aside from other distilleries in the area.

josh 24:22

Oh yeah. They had bought and converted three copper stills from a cognac distillery that was shutting down because these copper stills are made in a very similar shape and style, but they're so expensive. So to save money, similar to, updating this warehouse to make it fit what their needs were. They bought these copper stills, I think it was from a cognac company in France, I believe they talked about.

brit 24:49

Yeah.

josh 24:50

That was super cool. Apparently there are a bunch of small distilleries that still use the copper still method. some of the larger ones have upgraded to steel or done something different.

brit 25:01

Yeah. It was really cool to see. Mm-hmm. Because we've done distillery tours before.

josh 25:06

Mm-hmm.

brit 25:06

and I really haven't seen a lot of copper stills, so, no, it was pretty cool.

josh 25:10

Yeah. And our tour guy's name, I just saw it on a picture, his name was Paul. So Paul. Mm-hmm.

brit 25:16

Paul was nice.

josh 25:17

Yeah.

brit 25:17

Our final dinner in Donegal was a drive to Killybags at the Anderson Boathouse, which several people had recommended to us. Mm-hmm. And they were only open, I think it was, they were open on Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays, maybe Saturdays too. they had some limited hours, so we had to wait until our last day to go here. it was incredible. It was really good food and the service was really nice. It was a bit pricey. Mm-hmm. for what you're getting, I think it was worth it. We had got a mushroom soup. Brie stuffed chicken in a brandy reduction sea bass and a crepe with vanilla ice cream inside. Mm-hmm. Also delicious. I really loved the stuffed chicken. It was so creamy and the brandy reduction really wasn't too strong of a flavor, uh, which I appreciated because it really allowed the bri to kinda, come forward.

josh 26:21

Yeah. Come through. Yeah.

brit 26:22

Yeah. It was so good.

josh 26:24

the mushroom soup was like a moose boosh that they gave us.

brit 26:29

Yeah.

josh 26:29

And that was delicious. Amazing. The whole meal was fantastic. Really enjoyed it.

brit 26:35

Yeah, for sure. what was your favorite thing about county Donegal?

josh 26:40

It is such a. Kinda like untouched feeling to the area.

brit 26:45

Yeah.

josh 26:46

you have Killybegs, which is highly populated. It's kind of like a small city, but for where we were and kind of went around lots of very small spread out like houses and businesses that gave the whole place a lot of openness to it.

brit 27:04

Yeah.

josh 27:04

So it felt very rugged I liked that. I liked all the scenery, the cliffs, just the nature.

brit 27:12

It was gorgeous. It really was.

josh 27:14

What about you?

brit 27:15

Genuinely really loved the rusty mackerel. Mm, mm-hmm. I mean, the hikes and the beauty everywhere is also up there, but you already took that, so I'm gonna say the rusty mackerel because it was such a good vibe in there. I had so much fun every single night sitting down at that bar stool in the local Irish pub and having a Guinness, it's really what I imagined. Yeah. Going to Ireland would be like. So I think because it took my imagination and made it real. Mm-hmm. I think that's why it's my favorite part. It really just, it's indescribable. The feeling that you get there. It's just so cozy and comfortable and it's warm on a cold day and ugh, I just loved it.

josh 28:09

Yeah. And they were doing some outside work there as well. Yeah, while we were at the Rusty mackerel, it seemed like they were building an extended indoor outdoor patio seating area. It might have been. So business must be good and it's a beautiful place.

brit 28:27

Yeah, Would you live here?

josh 28:28

when we were walking around and looking at it, it would be. A similar feeling to how I described Laragh, which is it would definitely be a different life than what we have imagined for ourselves. I could live there. I don't know if I would be happy for the rest of my life there. I'm not sure.

brit 28:49

Yeah.

josh 28:51

It's just so untouched and there is a community, but it's spread out.

brit 28:58

I do feel like I got the feeling here more than I got the feeling in Laragh I don't necessarily see us here. I think there were moments when we were driving along and we saw some houses and they're just by a beautiful cliff, and we're like, I could live there. Like, it's just so gorgeous. I don't know. It's, it's hard to say, was it the same feeling I got in portree? No.

josh 29:24

yeah, again, the, the community, I think the size is the factor.

brit 29:29

I agree. Like, we like a small town, but that small is it, it makes things challenging. Like

josh 29:36

yeah,

brit 29:36

there's not access to healthcare. There's not, you know, a, a lot of different things, but it also. It makes you feel kind of secluded and closer to the people that you do have around, I would assume.

josh 29:50

Mm-hmm. it it restricts you a little more, like there is access to healthcare. It's just further away. There is access to this stuff, just not directly there.

brit 30:01

Yeah.

josh 30:02

Teelin seems just like a very small area with some houses and a couple bars, but it's very spread out. So it's not like you can live in one spot and then just walk, you know, a minute from place to place.

brit 30:15

Yeah.

josh 30:16

Like you would in a big city.

brit 30:18

So did you say if you got the feeling here or not?

josh 30:20

not the feeling, not the magical, I wanna live here feeling

brit 30:24

okay.

josh 30:24

No, I, I'd come back several times and visit plenty of people. Said like, oh, you gotta go to Northern Ireland and visit the Giants, Causeway and Belfast. And we just didn't get to do that because our rental wasn't registered for that.

brit 30:41

Yeah.

josh 30:42

So,

brit 30:43

yeah, we will have to go back and definitely, I wanna visit Belfast.

josh 30:48

Mm-hmm.

brit 30:48

and I wanna go to the, the Titanic Museum.

josh 30:51

Mm-hmm.

brit 30:52

That would be so cool. but I, I agree. I think that it would be really difficult to actually live there. it is gorgeous though. And I would visit again and again.

josh 31:03

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:04

And stay at the rusty mackerel.

josh 31:06

What kind of tips then for people traveling there? Do you have any tips or anything? or suggestions?

brit 31:11

I would probably say when you're driving there, you wanna make sure you're driving when it's still daytime out

josh 31:18

for sure.

brit 31:19

Because that's scary.

josh 31:21

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:21

I would also say. Be flexible in your schedule. If you want to do a hike, you might get to do it, but also the weather in Ireland, sometimes it might be unsafe to do it. Mm-hmm. And that's okay. it'll be okay if you don't hike the Slieve league. Mm-hmm. It really will. It's better to have you safe than to be able to say you did that. Mm-hmm. Right. Which is like an ego thing, because I really wanted to say that we hiked that, right? Mm-hmm. But I also was like, there's no fucking way I'm doing that. Not on this day when it's so windy and no, no, not doing it. So Just be safe. And. Check the hours of places because some places have unique hours. I think those are my tips. What are yours?

josh 32:15

Rusty Mackerels. Great. If you don't get a chance to stay there, go there for dinner, go for breakfast, get a pint there. They have a, Guinness stamp for the foam on top, so they created different designs each time we had a Guinness. That was fun.

brit 32:33

That was so cool.

josh 32:34

Mm-hmm. There. There are just so many hikes around Donegal. If you talk to locals, which when we did get to do, they're like, oh, you gotta go here. Gotta go here. Gotta go here. talk to locals. They might introduce you to a new spot that isn't on the maps or easily accessible. Yeah. Through maps. Enjoy it for what it is. It's a vast open space where you can go and explore nature.

brit 32:57

Yeah.

josh 32:57

And we went an off season and they got some boat tours and stuff out there, which would've been fun to do

brit 33:02

But they were closed because we were there in off season. So

josh 33:05

yeah. just a great stop on our trip. Love Donegal. Go love Teelin. Would highly recommend.

brit 33:13

If you're going to Ireland, I think you would miss out if you didn't go to County Donegal.

josh 33:20

Mm-hmm. Yeah. lots more of this trip we need to talk about.

brit 33:23

Yeah. Mm-hmm. For sure. So next episode, we are gonna be talking about Clifden.

josh 33:28

Mm-hmm.

brit 33:29

but first we will talk about our stay in the castle where we stayed for one night. Mm-hmm. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube@wsmhtravels

josh 33:43

You can listen to our podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. YouTube is where we post our video record version, where we include pictures and videos from our trips. Also, please keep on including comments and sending us messages for suggestions on future trips and what you thought of our current trips. We really appreciate it.

brit 34:03

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.